Comments on: Saving Pennies or Dollars? Grinding Your Own Flour

By: Nate Poodel

Nate Poodel — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 03:01:17 +0000

My sister has a very expensive grinder she uses to make rice flour. Rice flour is stupidly expensive considering rice can be bought for far less than $1 a pound. She has to use rice flour due to a family member with a Celiac Disease. BEST.INVESTMENT.EVER!

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:23:24 +0000

I can’t eat wheat, but I’ve bought other grains from a co-op. Go to breadbeckers.com and click on CO-OP. They’re mainly in the southeast US, and their wheat starts around 50 cents/pound.

By: Becky

Becky — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:12:59 +0000

@Susan, #9 – Of course other things are important, but that doesn’t make the math UNimportant. It’s a factor. It’s a different factor for each person.

Some frugal actions are no fun but provide such big financial benefits that they’re worth it. Other frugal actions are no fun and provide such minor financial benefits that they are not worth it depending on someone’s financial situation. Other actions, ostensibly frugal, actually cost more but are so enjoyable for some people that they’re worth it (for them) anyway.

Isn’t it useful to know which is which? That’s what this series is about.

By: LIz

LIz — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:23:15 +0000

I’ve thought about grinding my own wheat for bread, but right now my time is at a huge premium (new-ish job). However, I’m very jealous of the 5 pounds of King Arthur for $3. It’s more like 5.50 for 5 pounds where I live (although of course I pay it!)

By: HW

HW — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 22:16:59 +0000

If you buy in bulk (as in 25-50 lbs), you can get wheat berries much more cheaply than that. Search for “wheat food storage” on the internet to find bulk suppliers. My local Sam’s Club has had 45-lb buckets of wheat for under $18. This is what I use to grind my whole wheat flour using an electric mill (nutrimill). Whole wheat flour should be kept in the refrigerator or freezer to retain nutrients and is more nutritious than the whole wheat flour you can buy.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:11:42 +0000

Trent,

This comment should not be posted; it is negative.
Nevertheless I hope that you’ll read it. Your posts regarding ‘saving’ miss the point (flour grinding, WC flushing, turning off lights, unplugging appliances) or it seems so to me. It’s not just about the cost in dollars and cents. In my opinion it is important to consider intangibles: aesthetic concerns, health benefits, safety issues, for example. There is much more to take into account that the math.

By: Jill

Jill — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 18:45:43 +0000

I would agree with the above poster about the price of the grinder. We have a whispermill and bought it 10 years ago around $200. Now, they are a bit more. We also bought a Bosch mixer with a dough hook attachment to make the process easier. We also use this for other things, though (blender, mixer, etc.). So far both the mill and the mixer are holding up very well for 10 years of use and will hopefully last a lot longer. So, the start up costs to grinding your own wheat are such that #1: you’d better like making the bread because you’ll be doing it for a long time to make up for the cost #2: it does pay for itself over time. We just bought a 5 gal. bucket of wheat through a co-op with shipping that was $38. I think I could probably get it cheaper but I’m too lazy to find out right now. Two cups of wheat berries equals four cups of usable wheat. So a 5 gal. bucket can last a long time. The reason why we started is because it tastes good, I don’t mind doing it (but don’t do it all the time), it is healthier than store bought bread, and because wheat berries, if you keep pests out of it, (which we have never had a problem with) can last indefinitely (they have found grains in archeological sites that can be used); being a good source of food stuffs should the economy take a turn for the worst. I also know a friend who buys her wheat berries locally, has them ground locally and put into a big sack which she then puts in her chest freezer. That’s another way to do it.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 11:25:21 +0000

This post brought The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder to my mind but, aside from that: seems to me that a storage issue (and the possibility of rodents) would arise with the whole grains if ground grains turns rancid so quickly.

By: Barb

Barb — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:51:07 +0000

On Amazon the hand operated grain mills are more like $30 to $40 when you include cost of shipping – and most don’t have super-saver shipping. Of course you could share the cost with a friend, grain mills really lend themselves well to that kind of sharing.
In larger cities try Whole Earth stores, in Denver they have in-house mills and grind grains to order. Pricing unknown.
The issue you did not address is two-fold. First: flour additives and treatments are avoided completely when you grind your own. Second: the whole grain degrades rapidly from the time it is milled, and I have heard that even 24 hours means significant loss of vitamins. Commercial flour is treated because the oil in whole grain goes rancid once exposed to air, which occurs as it is milled. If you want to mill your own I strongly urge you to mill it only as you need it, and cook or refrigerate the flour immediately. This is a good part of the reason that home ground flour tastes so much better.
Grinding flour is a VERY physical activity and you need a solid counter to attach the grinder to. If you have kids they can burn a lot of energy grinding! But be sure to plan for a counter that matches the gap in the clamp and then a non-slip pad of some kind to protect the counter (or bench). Often it is helpful to grind a first-run coarsely and then reset to fine and grind a second time to get the best results.
For home ground grain you will have a greater need for a sifter to remove the large bits. But you now have the flexibility to grind coarse for cereal, fine for bread, and superfine for cakes.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:59:57 +0000

(different Gretchen)

I think you are missing a 0 on that grider price.

Link?

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:49:54 +0000

Thanks for answering my question! I should say that I actually have a Nutrimill which I bought from Craig’s list for $150.00 so it was an investment but as mentioned above it can grind lots of things including beans into bean flour and other things. It is a high powered electric grinder which I would recommend if you are going to be doing a lot of home grinding. I have also heard that Wal-mart is now selling grain in some stores and it may be worth checking out to see how much that is.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 01:38:04 +0000

I am Mormon and through my church can get 25 lbs of wheat (for food storage purposes) for $11.45. Then, it is clearly much cheaper to grind one’s own flour. As always, it really depends on the price.

By: NMPatricia

NMPatricia — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:53:45 +0000

I think there are a couple of other things to think about. When you buy a grinder (or at least mine), I can grind other things with it. For example, I can make “Cream of Rice” cereal from brown rice and know that it is fresh and not particularly processed except for my grinding it and then cooking it. Also, I have bought corn and made my own polenta. According to Laurel’s Kitchen, corn will go rancid very quickly making any polenta one buys in the stores probably rancid. The polenta that I have ground was so good.

I know that you answered the question in terms of comparing flour to flour, but the grinder is a good addition to people who want to do food in a healthy way and from scratch.

By: Priswell

Priswell — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 22:15:47 +0000

I think the point here is, “I can get an exceptionally high quality of product here for an unbelievably low cost.”